What a Ride...
Wow, busy times!
Hopefully I'll get the pictures downloaded this weekend for the river clean-up I organized for my school this past week. We teamed up with our local EnviroCorps and WHAT a blast it was. We had about 40 kids and several teachers/volunteers come out to both canoe and walk alongside the river banks to pick up trash and pull garlic mustard, an invasive weed that chokes out the native plants. Altogether we collected 540 pounds of trash, including not one, but two bikes from the river (adult mountain and road), one bike frame, two truck tires, a metal folding chair, and countless other pieces of trash and recyclables.
By far the most unbelievable thing I saw however, was a Canadian Goose sitting on top of her nest smack in the middle of the river and under the bridge where the storm debris had collected. It was probably about four feet above the water atop a bunch of the debris, two feet across, and the wall facing me was built up against a motor oil bottle. Let me tell you what, standing up in that canoe against the current, then navigating across all the fallen tree branches and other debris to get to the bottle, then replacing it with a rock a la Indiana Jones all the while hoping the hissing mother goose wouldn't eat my face off ranked right up there with the Ironman starting line as far as adrenaline rushes go. Holy freaking cow. Afterwards, I was informed by the student in my canoe that I was totally the coolest teacher in the school, hehe.
SO, it's been busy times around here to say the least. The next three weeks or so will be more of the same, and then it should slow down a bit. Until then though, it's Saturday soccer cyclone mornings for Laura and Michael, tutoring kids after school so they can finish up their credits, translating end of the year conferences for non-English speaking parents, grading final projects and essays, redesigning my curriculum, Kindergarten graduation preparation, getting up extra early for training, and trying not to pass out right next to the kids after story time.
Whew, what a ride...
Hopefully I'll get the pictures downloaded this weekend for the river clean-up I organized for my school this past week. We teamed up with our local EnviroCorps and WHAT a blast it was. We had about 40 kids and several teachers/volunteers come out to both canoe and walk alongside the river banks to pick up trash and pull garlic mustard, an invasive weed that chokes out the native plants. Altogether we collected 540 pounds of trash, including not one, but two bikes from the river (adult mountain and road), one bike frame, two truck tires, a metal folding chair, and countless other pieces of trash and recyclables.
By far the most unbelievable thing I saw however, was a Canadian Goose sitting on top of her nest smack in the middle of the river and under the bridge where the storm debris had collected. It was probably about four feet above the water atop a bunch of the debris, two feet across, and the wall facing me was built up against a motor oil bottle. Let me tell you what, standing up in that canoe against the current, then navigating across all the fallen tree branches and other debris to get to the bottle, then replacing it with a rock a la Indiana Jones all the while hoping the hissing mother goose wouldn't eat my face off ranked right up there with the Ironman starting line as far as adrenaline rushes go. Holy freaking cow. Afterwards, I was informed by the student in my canoe that I was totally the coolest teacher in the school, hehe.
SO, it's been busy times around here to say the least. The next three weeks or so will be more of the same, and then it should slow down a bit. Until then though, it's Saturday soccer cyclone mornings for Laura and Michael, tutoring kids after school so they can finish up their credits, translating end of the year conferences for non-English speaking parents, grading final projects and essays, redesigning my curriculum, Kindergarten graduation preparation, getting up extra early for training, and trying not to pass out right next to the kids after story time.
Whew, what a ride...
posted by Wil at 11:11 AM
4 Comments:
You are an example to everybody.
Getting involved in anything, like cleanup or helping the poor or whatever, is needed in our lives. If we just work, have family and train, (all very important of course) then eventually somewhere inside a person starts to feel a little empty. Giving back to the community like that is a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Being an example to the kids and them seeing the importance of giving back to the community is even more so!
The cleanup project is great, I and our environment thank you. We used to do that with my mom when we were kids. I should resurrect the tradition. It's amazing how much trash is out there! Yuck!
As long as you don't fall asleep during storytime I don't think anyone will mind :)
Wow that is busy the next 3 weeks.. sounds like training for an IM is easier..!! lol...
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